I've observed that the Member/Junior Member issue only came up when FT was having problems, and normally is not an issue when things are running smoothly. The only exception to this is when people ask about the Member/Junior Member rating, and are then told how it is based on the number of posts.

The number of postings issue seems to come up fairly regularly, though, and independantly of FT problems or any other indirect influence. Notice the discussion about Rudi recently passing 3000, and Randy just making 30.

I think there is some value in a rating scheme of some type. If someone with 400 posts asks me about, say, CP upgrade coupons, they'd probably get the brief answer. On the other hand, someone with 4 posts would probably get a more detailed answer. I know this means making some assumptions, but at least they will be made on some evidence.

Having said that, perhaps it would be best to always give the detailed (4 poster) response, even to someone with 400 posts, given than many 4 posters may be following the thread. So as you can see, I'm a very confused person.

With regard to prizes, bonus, upgrades, there was some discussion about using the number of posts, and then a concern about someone "padding" but inflate the number of posts. Perhaps an alternative would be to measure the number of responses to a post, which I suspect is a good indicator of the value of a contribution.

It may not be obvious from my babbling, but I favour a simple "number of posts" approach.

Regards,

Ken Hamer
P.S. It's intersting to compare the discussion and preferences for "elite level" type designators here, with the discussion in Richard Brodie's Frequent Flyer Viruses thread in the Buzz.

[This message has been edited by KenHamer (edited 06-02-99).]